‘The Crown’ Season 5: Elizabeth Debicki’s Portrayal of Princess Diana is ‘Like Watching a Ghost’ for Secret Biographer
Biographer Andrew Morton, who used tapes made by Princess Diana to write a bombshell biography in the ’90s, said seeing Elizabeth Debicki play her on The Crown is so convincing it’s ”like watching a ghost.”
Though Debicki admitted to finding some challenge in channeling the famous royal, Morton said her portrayal was spot on. And he also predicted how King Charles III might feel about his character if he ever ”sits down and watches.”
Elizabeth Debicki found a ’challenge’ in portraying Princess Diana in ’The Crown’ season 5
Debicki spoke about her experience playing the late princess for The Crown starting in the fifth season. Much of the story focuses on the unraveling of the marriage between Charles and Diana.
“I’m Australian, shock-horror, and I was very young during this period of history, so I didn’t have any lived memory of it,” Debicki confessed to Entertainment Weekly. She learned through the creator’s interpretation, but added, “The research archive department … assists in building a very solid foundation of the actual historical events.”
“Then eventually you have to just throw it all away and do the scene,” Debicki concluded of her acting method. According to her, taking part in the series provided a unique experience in her craft.
“It’s extremely unusual that you would just suddenly have this portal opened up where you can access that kind of reality, and that emotional truth, of your character, and then find ways to reinterpret it as an actor,” she explained. “I found it to be a really rich experience and a real challenge as well.”
Princess Diana’s secret biographer said watching Elizabeth Debicki on ’The Crown’ was like seeing a ’ghost’
The fifth season of The Crown features biographer Andrew Morton because he secretly worked closely with Diana and her friend James Colthurst while writing the 1992 biography, Diana: Her True Story. And Morton said Debicki’s resemblance left him ”genuinely shaken.”
“It was like watching a ghost, really,” he told Vanity Fair. “It was like going back into the room 30 years ago. I was blown away by how she got every nuance of her character.”
Royal biographer argued King Charles III should be ’quite pleased’ with his character on ’The Crown’ if he watches
Morton also touched on the depiction and portrayal of Charles in The Crown’s fifth season, noting the writers gave him an advantage. Some fans have also argued that The Wire star Dominic West is too attractive to play a believable Charles.
“I don’t know if [series creator] Peter Morgan wants his peerage but Charles is an intelligent, questioning, courageous, positive character in this depiction, so it makes me laugh when everybody’s getting up in arms about [the new season],” he explained.
“King Charles, if he ever sits down and watches, will be quite pleased with his character…it’s done [him] a big favor,” Morton concluded.
